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not a waste of time

Jeremiah 7:16-29 (JDV)

Jeremiah 7:16 “And you, do not pray for these people. Do not cry out or a petition me on their behalf, and do not beg me, because I will not listen to you.

Jeremiah 7:17 Just look at their behavior in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 7:18 The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of the sky, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me.

Jeremiah 7:19 But are they really provoking me?” This is what Yahveh declares. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to shame?”

Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore, this is what Yahveh God says: “Notice, my anger – my burning wrath – is about to be poured out on this place, on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”

Jeremiah 7:21 This is what Yahveh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,

Jeremiah 7:22 because when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.

Jeremiah 7:23 But I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’

Jeremiah 7:24 Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.

Jeremiah 7:25 since the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets to you time and time again.

Jeremiah 7:26 But they wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate; they did more evil than their fathers.

Jeremiah 7:27 “When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you.

Jeremiah 7:28 Therefore, declare to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to Yahveh their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has been destroyed—it has disappeared from their mouths.

Jeremiah 7:29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vow and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, because Yahveh has rejected and abandoned this generation under his wrath.’

not a waste of time

God’s word to Jeremiah was that the generation he was sent to declare the word of God to was rejected and abandoned. The great revival he wanted would not happen. The reversal of the people’s backward movement away from God would not happen. They were a lost cause.

So, why did God send Jeremiah? Was his life a futile, unnecessary waste of time?

No, Jeremiah’s words would remain. His witness to God’s passion for his rejected people would reach forward into the future, even to our time.

I challenge you, friend. If God is giving you a message to speak, speak it. It does not matter if nobody seems to be listening to your sermons, or reading your posts, or taking your advice. Testifying to God’s truth is never a waste of time.

Lord, give us the courage to keep testifying your truth.